Government Operations committee  A technical evaluation was done. The evaluations are almost always done in two parts: the qualification on the technical basis and then the financial evaluation.

Government Operations committee  Yes, Mr. Rodriguez, the process has been going on for a bit of time. There was an interruption because of the election and also our strategy for changing procurement reform programs. We wanted to make sure that things were lined up properly. This bid has taken a normal course and there's nothing unusual about it.

Government Operations committee  No, he did not. We asked him for suggestions for qualified people and we made our own selection of the committee.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Poilievre, the minister is the general director of the department; he does not get involved in any individual contracting. He is typically informed only at the very end, when the department has made a recommendation.

Government Operations committee  Not in any way.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I am, Mr. Poilievre. We received three bids for this contract. The technical part was evaluated by five separate, individual evaluators, who did not talk to each other during the process. The financial part was evaluated by a lead evaluator and checked by a second one. I was briefed after the process had progressed to a certain extent.

Government Operations committee  No, he was not.

Government Operations committee  No, he was not. In my opinion, a fair and proper process took place, and the government should have full confidence in the result, as I do.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely not, and I asked them that question point-blank.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely not.

Government Operations committee  No. Once again, he had absolutely nothing to do with it. We had an independent committee. The invitation was published on MERX. In fact, not only banks applied; the accounting firm of KPMG also applied and was qualified and received an evaluation as well.

Government Operations committee  Yes, we would certainly be prepared to release anything that is normally released under the Access to Information Act, if that's needed.

Government Operations committee  No. It's usually a three-year kind of thing.

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, I really regret this situation. We do have a very large backlog as a result of administrative processes that we have to follow. We are tackling it very vigorously. We've brought the backlog down very considerably, and we are continuing to do that. We hope we will be in the clear very shortly, but if you have a specific case, I'll be glad to look into it for you.

Government Operations committee  Not really; it's not very large, but it's very hard to track, because of course we deal with foreign companies that are almost household names in Canada--IBM and so on--so it's hard to know exactly where.